Banyan Nation – This Hyderabad based 1st Indian firm to win Circular Economy Award at WEF

New-age plastic recycling start-up Banyan Nation from the Hyderabad city has become the first Indian firm to win ‘Dell People’s Choice Award for The Circular Economy’ at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos on Monday. The start-up based in T-hub is founded by Mani Vajipey and Raj Madangopal.

The award was presented in promoting young leaders who have taken an eco-friendly route to address problems by reusing resources to its maximum possible extent during its service life.

The model is referred to as circular economy which is opposite to linear economy where raw materials after used are not recycled. The start-up works in recycling plastic waste collected by rag pickers into granules of virgin plastic — better plastic, a registered trademark product. Banyan Nation was incubated in the T-Hub. IT minister KT Rama Rao congratulated the start-up on Twitter.

The startup uses data intelligence to integrate thousands of last mile informal waste collectors and large bulk waste generators into its supply chain. The company has developed a proprietary plastic cleaning technology which converts collected plastic waste into near-virgin quality recycled granules that global companies can use to make products and packaging.

Mani Vajipey, co-founder and CEO of Banyan Nation who received the award says, “The recognition at the World Economic Forum is a testament to the strength of innovations such as ours coming out of India. Within the next decade, almost all mainstream plastic products including food grade packaging will contain recycled materials. We see Banyan at the forefront of this paradigm shift.”

The Circulars is the world’s premier circular economy award programme. The award offers recognition to individuals and organisations worldwide that make significant contributions to the circular economy in the private sector, public sector and society. The award was determined by online voting which closed on January 16.

The award is instituted by the World Economic Forum and Forum of Young Global Leaders initiative, in collaboration with Accenture Strategy.